DRC Declares End Of Ebola Epidemic

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s health ministry on Tuesday declared an end to an Ebola outbreak believed to have killed 33 people, after 42 days with no new cases.

The outbreak, first detected in northwest Congo in April, was dealt with rapidly by the World Health Organisation and Congolese authorities, including the deployment of an experimental vaccine given to over 3,300 people.

Health minister of Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Oly Ilunga officially announced the end of the Ebola haemorrhagic fever epidemic in a statement made on national television Tuesday.

NAN reports that on May 12, officials declared an outbreak of the highly contagious disease, the eighth to date in the sprawling country, in Bas-Uele province – an equatorial forest zone near the Central African Republic.

“I declare the end of the Ebola outbreak in Likati in DRC from midnight tonight,” Ilunga said.

An Ebola outbreak in 2014 left 11 300 people dead, mainly in west Africa. (Reuters/NAN)